Agricultural landscape diversity and food security: The role of a diversified agricultural landscape on farming system production and household food security in two contrasted parklands of Central Senegal

Political and scientific spheres agree on the urgent need to foster the diversification of agricultural landscape to increase food security while meeting other broader societal goals as defined by the Sustainable Development Goals (SGD). Agroforestry parklands are multifunctional landscapes considered as a promising pathway to sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture. We explored the potential co-benefits of agroforestry parklands on food security and livelihoods (SDG#1 and SDG#2) linked to landscape and tree species diversity (SDG#15) in millet-based farming systems of the Peanut basin in Senegal. We compared two regions with contrasting diversity in land use systems and parklands. Tree inventories, agronomic and household surveys (400 households) were conducted in 2018. In the diversified region dominated by F.albida parkland, tree density and species diversity positively affected regionally aggregated millet production. Yet, analysis on food security as measured by the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, together with remote sensing based landscape diversity metrics and household socio-economic information evidenced that less people were food insecure compared with the less diversified region. Trees played a strategic role in sustaining food availability and food accessibility through agroecological and income pathways. Our work adds to the body of literature showing that multifunctionnal landscapes provide a pathway to meet several social and environmental objectives and that sustainable intensification options need to be assessed beyond the mere agricultural production.